A Nepali girl, who is being referred to as the ‘Tarkariwali’ has set a million hearts a-flutter after a picture of hers went viral online. Kusum Shrestha of Gorkha district is that girl who is the current object of social media's affection.

Kusum who hails from the hilly village of Wangilang of Bhumlichok-8, Gorkha district, is now amazed to learn that her pictures have gone viral on the Internet. It was revealed during a meeting with her on Thursday noon that she is as beautiful as she is shy.

We ran into Kusum while she was descending down to the Fishling bazaar to go to the Mankamana temple. She blushed at the unexpected encounter, bit her tongue and covered her face. “I hear that her photos have become popular on the Internet. Who had imagined that she would get such publicity? My daughter has always been a shy girl; she is a girl of very few words,” said her father Chandra Narayan Shrestha, 43, after noticing that her shy daughter was finding it difficult to open up to us.

Clad in a blue kurta and red salwar, Kusum is clearly taller than average Nepali women. Though she had put on a little make-up, her face, body and dress looked like those of a model. She is the only daughter of her parents.

Kusum who lives in Ratnanagar of Chitwan district is a management student. She is currently in Grade 11. She has come to her home village to spend her festival vacation. Her father sells vegetables in the Fishling bazaar. As she is the only child of her parents, she is expected to help her parents when she is home.

Though his father gets his vegetables transported from his village to the banks of the Trishuli River on a tractor, baskets full of vegetables have to be carried on head to cross the suspension bridge over the river to reach Fishling. Rupchandra Maharjan, an employee of a company that organizes rafting in the Trishuli River had taken Kusum’s photo while she was crossing the suspension bridge, carrying a basket full of tomatoes on her head. Maharjan posted the photo on his Facebook wall on October 28.

That same photo has gone viral on the Internet. Millions have shared that photo of Kusum on Facebook and Twitter.

“I also have a Facebook account. But I never realized that facebook would make me popular one day,” said Kusum. It was Rupchandra who told her that her photo has gone viral on the Internet.

“Millions have viewed her photo. I don’t know if this will lead to good or bad. My daughter is happy as well as fed-up. She hesitates to come down to the market after everyone started asking her about her popularity on the Internet,” said Chandra Narayan.

Kusum revealed that she actually wanted to study Nursing. But her father said he got her daughter enrolled in a management college because he could not afford the costs of studying Nursing.

“She is my only child. I should educate her to the extent possible. But I also have to consider my financial situation. I could not admit her in a Nursing college though she wanted to study Nursing,” he said.

Kusum completed her lower secondary education (up to Grade 7) from the Bhadrakali Lower Secondary School in her village. After that she went to study in Gyanmarga Secondary School of Ghyalchowk from where she did her SLC.

“I have to educate her from what I earn by selling vegetables,” said Chandra Narayan. He added that what he earns from selling vegetables is just about enough to meet the family’s expenses, including Kusum’s education.

He says that her daughter’s instant popularity on facebook shows that the world realizes the importance of farmers as well. “This is what I feel. There is nothing else that I expect,” he said.